an old writer and his words

  • WHICH

    Tomorrow it will beFriday again, so we knowthe decision is looming, one wehave grown used to, one that weagonize over although in any schemeof things it is trivial at best.But here we are trying to decidewhich of two coffee shops weshould visit tomorrow morning,a bagel and cortado at either,one close, nice and pedestrianbut with the…

    Lou Faber

  • GENSHA COMES TO THE PROVINCE

    When you siton the cushiondo not let your mindcompare this zazento yesterday’s orimagine tomorrow’s.Those are the thoughtsof a fool for yesterdayand tomorrow are,in this moment,only illusions. A reflection on Case 81 of the Book of Equanimity, Shoyoroku 従容錄

    Lou Faber

  • STILL WAITING

    We have been waiting for herbut she is again reluctant to appearand this night chooses to hidebehind a veil of gossamer clouds.How often has she turned her back on us,allowing us only a passing glimpseand still we always await her, for sheis our inamorata and we feelsomehow incomplete in her absence.She know that she will…

    Lou Faber

  • STILL VAINLY SEARCHING

    I spent a pleasant morning walkingquietly around the grounds, searchingfor them diligently, but as on most days they again remained hidden from sight.I did see several cattle egrets staringdeeply into the foliage, knowing that breakfast lay hidden deep within,and a flock of ibis pecking lifefrom the still wet, just watered lawns. Today I even saw…

    Lou Faber

  • WINDOW 101

    I thought I heard the weatherman say there will be intermittent weather tomorrow. Perhaps I misheard, and in a rare moment of absolute honesty he said there will be intermittent periods when the forecast will be accurate tomorrow. That was probably it. It makes sense, and there is a fair chance it will prove to…

    Lou Faber

  • STOIC

    He will do it again tomorrow as he did yesterday and each day before that for as long as he can remember. He would like not to have to do it, but he knows he must, just as he knows the outcome will be almost the same, just the slightest of changes imperceptible from day…

    Lou Faber

  • GENSHA’S ONE BRIGHT PEARL

    If you ask mewhat I can sayabout the wayI will tell youit is perfect peace.If tomorrow I ask youwhat you can sayabout the waywill you tell meit is perfect peace.We may bothbe fools, but youinhabit the darker cave. A reflection on Case 15 of the Shobogenzo Koans (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • CONVERSATION

    Arising into nightthe departing suntangoes away with its cloud,memories soon forgotten.Other dancers take the stage,now a romance, nowa war dance, feathers raisedin prayer to unseen gods.Night will soon bringits curtain across this stage,the avian cast’s final bows takenthe theatre will darken, awaitinganother performance,a new script tomorrow,but for this solitary momentof frozen grace, it is wewho…

    Lou Faber

  • THREE HAIKU

    A momentthen another, anotheronly this one a world of delusionyesterday and tomorrowBuddha says Now! Egrets take flightwe stare awestrucknature pities us

    Lou Faber

  • DEAR ERASMUS, DIE

    Today we welcome the rain, hopethat the wheaty winter lawn willshow some other color under its care. The birds ignore the clouds,accept the rain, care little howour lawn looks, their next mealof always greater importance. I am losing the vision in one eye,know I may soon be kingof the country of the blind,and sadly curse…

    Lou Faber